To Burn Bridges
by justsimplymeagain
Summary: Will hadn't meant to survive, he meant for Hannibal and himself to die together. A near romantic notion, depending on who's insight you gained. But they did and they were separated and now Will has a choice to make.


**Title:** To Burn Bridges

 **Summary:** Will hadn't meant to survive, he meant for Hannibal and himself to die together. A near romantic notion, depending on who's insight you gained. But they did and they were separated and now Will has a choice to make.

~ Story Below ~

" _It's beautiful."_

It was his own words that forced Will from what felt like an unnatural slumber. Gasping for air almost as though he expected to be submerged. It was a shock when he found himself staring at a clean ceiling above him and in the warmth of a bed. The beeping and noise told him he was in a hospital and it was further proven by one thing. Will felt no pain. Not in his face, where he could see the outline of a bandage or his shoulder. Someone was by his bed, small. Female.

"Mo-"

His mouth was dry and there was a sensation at something being tugged by his own attempt to speak. Was his face really that damaged? Will didn't really stop long enough to take note of his own injuries. He just reacted on instinct.

She spoke, it took Will a moment to understand that she said, "Don't speak." She kept talking but Will couldn't focus on that as he accepted the water she brought to him, sucking through a straw. Again. She was petting his hair, finger accidentally touching the scar on his forehead. It made him think of the bone saw and a far away Jack screaming at Hannibal, to stop. Will at the time didn't care if Hannibal did stop or not. He felt no pain then and he feels no pain now. Hannibal was kind to him by not letting him suffer through that procedure, but he now knows that Hannibal loved him.

He could hear the sound of a boy near, Walter. Will turned his attention that way, it was clear that he was awkward and not sure how to deal with this situation and that had to make three of them. The more focus Will managed to steal back for himself, the more he can notice. Molly was worried and her concern for him was suffocating. Will knows why now, he wasn't who she married anymore. So much has changed in such a short time, all falling into place the moment he set foot in the room that once held Hannibal and has held him for the past three years.

His eyes travelled to the doorway, there was no officer there. Why? He helped Hannibal escape, and not just apart of bait. He and Hannibal killed themselves a Dragon.

Where was the officer?

Testing things further he reached up to his face expecting that he was handcuffed, but he wasn't. He wasn't under arrest for the moment. Growing more bold with himself he pressed his fingers against his face and winced at the faint sensation of pain. Not only was he scarred but he was no doubt bruised pretty badly. Looking down he saw no casts, he was lucky that way.

But what about Hannibal?

"I think you better talk to Jack about that." Molly said, something in her voice and Will watched as she pulled away. Slowly realizing that the man in the hospital bed wasn't the man she married and laughed alongside with. Will was for all purposes a stranger to her right now, it was hidden by her genuine concern. But Will can see it, he can see a lot of things that most do not want him to see.

Will watched as she turned to Walter and sent him from the room, and Will watched as he all but fled to the waiting lounge to read the old magazines. Molly turned back and gave him more water. She seemed hesitant now. Not shy, but unsure.

Will focused all of his attention on her, pushing thoughts of Hannibal and everything else aside for the moment. The least he could do for her was give her his attention, undivided and pure.

Will felt sorrow grip his heart.

This was a good-bye. An official one, when Molly was in the hospital was the time things could have been fixed. All Will had to do was pull out of the investigation completely and devote himself to her. Something she deserved and didn't get from Will then.

But he could give her his honest now. His attention.

For her he can do that. He loved her after all.

"I don't think we can come back from this." Will was the first to start, making it easy for her. She smiled and her smile mirrored the sorrow he felt. She agreed quietly. A defeated no. Because they couldn't beat this together, not when Will could not truly be with her anymore. Not when a part of him would always want to follow someone else, to follow Hannibal. That night against the Dragon only showed how futile it was for Will to fight it. To fight Hannibal.

"I'm going to keep the dogs, Walter loves them." Molly said. Will wanted to fight her on that. But with his state and his state of mind, how could he look after his dogs as well as himself? Will reached out to her, not expecting her to actually be willing to touch him with the amount of blood that still seemed to be on his hands. He pulled her closer and she caught the hint and drew closer. There foreheads touched and Will knows now without a doubt that this was a good bye.

"I am sorry Molly, I really am. And I -" This was harder then he could have ever expected it to be, but he had to continue for her he had to, "- and I want to thank you for letting me be as close to normal as I could have been. For having me." She smiled at that, big and bright and sad. Will could feel her touch the side of his face but careful to avoid his injury. She mirrored the sentiment, letting him know that she herself thought that they had it good and that they did good despite this.

Will looked her in the eyes for a brief moment before looking over her bruises.

"Promise me one thing Molly. Just one thing." Will said as she drew away from him and sat down. She won't be sitting there long, Will could see her itching towards her purse.

"Anything." Will loved her for her readiness to promise him something and he slipped his ring off and handed it to her. She almost let out a sob, and Will was thankful she held it off.

"Remember me as I was with you before Jack came. Look after my dogs."

She nodded and Will watched her leave, he expected divorce papers in the next few days. She did them a favour by not looking back as she gathered her son and walked away.

Will stared in the direction she went for what felt like hours before closing his eyes and letting sleep take him. It was easier to just sleep.

* * *

It took two official days for the divorce papers to show up with a lawyer, Will signed it without any fight and signed everything over to Molly. She would know something was up by this, but wouldn't put two and two together for some time. Even Will wasn't entirely sure what was going on. But he will. He will. The lawyer was surprised though, she was used to spouses fighting for what one time was shared belongings. She wished him a good day and did him the favour of leaving.

It wasn't until hours later the doorway to his room was darkened by a shadow from his new visitor. Tired and worn, stubborn and judging.

Jack Crawford.

"Jack." Will greeted and watched as anger found it's place in Jack's posture as well. Jack didn't greet him back instead entered and closed the door but not before yelling at a nurse to come back later. Will pointed out that he needed his bandages changed. Jack told him to keep his mouth shut and Will obeyed, wincing at the crack of anger in the air.

"There was no survivors, just you and him." Jack stated, anger making his voice louder then it was normally and Will was relieved. He knows why he was relieved. Hannibal is alive. Was he here? Jack watched him intently, he wasn't stupid and Will knows he probably drawing something close to the truth for a conclusion. Will saw questions forming in Jack's mind and had a good idea of what those questions would be, but it would be best to just let Jack vent and say them himself.

"I understand who shot them, but you went with Hannibal after he was released from his restraints. Did you or -" Jack started and Will wondered how the man could seem to loom over him despite the fact that Jack was sitting in his chair.

"That was Dolarhyde." Will confirmed, Jack seemed appeased for a small moment before he made it clear that Jack wanted answers for what happened. For the time between the initial escape and the murder of Francis Dolarhyde. That part Will was more reluctant in answering and it showed, only causing Jack to become frustrated and angry.

"I need to know what happened between the two of you before things went down with Dolarhyde!" Jack yelled, Will could hear a nurse outside become startled at the sudden yell. Will didn't get the chance to answer due to a doctor coming in and pulling Jack outside, giving him a firm warning on raising his voice like this in a hospital while the nurse came in to change Will's bandages and check his injuries. Will used this time to think.

Will closed his eyes and he could picture the place that held Abigail at one point and Mariam before her. Will was allowed to see where Abigail slept, a quaint room but there was a journal poorly hidden and Hannibal made sure Will knew that Abigail thought that he didn't know about it's existence. If that was the truth, it no longer mattered. Abigail was dead, a victim who got trapped between two dangerous entities moving towards and against each other. He read a few pages, most of it spoke of a time before she met them.

A time he knows Abigail longed for and Will wished he never read a single word, it could have killed who Abigail was in his own mind. She truly was to be laid to rest, be nothing more then a memory of something he thought could have been more. How typically selfish of himself!

Still, how he felt about her would never change and he would allow himself quiet moments to mourn what she could have been and who she was before being tainted by Hannibal and himself.

He closed her door and said good bye to her there and then joined Hannibal who was freshly cleaned and offering to find something edible, a pointless gesture. With nerves and knowing what is to come, hunger was the last of there concerns. Instead they spoke of safe topics until the sun started to set and the wine was brought out. Some of the safe guards disappeared with the sun and topics were bordering on what was familiar.

Of course they never got a chance to go further into detail of what they could have spoken.

Interrupted by a bullet and spilt wine. Then by a dragon.

But the Dragon was dead and they were not. A wrong righted.

And Will fought down a small grin at this fact. And let it disappear back into his own darkness as Jack stormed back in the room.

"I need to know, before I go. Did you push him and he dragged you with him or did you both jump?" Jack demanded, hushed once by a passing nurse. Will stared at Jack, not too sure how to answer that. It was a complicated answer and one he felt more comfortable speaking to Hannibal about, not with Jack. That moment and that decision on that night belonged only to the two of them, outsiders were not welcome. Will didn't get a chance to answer as Jack continued once it was clear to him at the very least that he was not going to get an answer he would prefer to be getting, "The media knows that it was all a plan, a fake escape. They know that things went wrong and lives were lost. As far as the media is concerned it's all because of you that one murderer is killed and the other apprehended once again."

This made Will angry. Will had little faith in the law since his own run in's and betrayals from the law and this only drove the point home once again. Whether it was Jack's intention or not, didn't matter to either of them at this point and it was clear that Jack won't be letting Will off the hook even though he was technically not being charged or prosecuted at the moment.

"Sorry for your divorce." Was Jack's parting words to him as he left. Will didn't realize he was clutching at the blankets that covered him up to the waist until his hands started to ache.

* * *

The days following Jack's visit Will gone through the motions of physical therapy and having his injuries and bruises tended to. He asked questions about Hannibal, the doctors were not allowed to say a word and the nurses pitied him enough to at least let him know that he was stable and alive. Conscious was unknown though and Will was grateful to the nurses who were kid enough to answer. Will knows that as soon as Hannibal was able to be moved, they would be moving him back to Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Will wondered if Alana would be going back, once Hannibal was trapped again behind those walls.

A thought that did not sit well with him.

They survived the fall. They lived. Will let that be the decision for them, if they died then they died together and that would be okay. The world would be better off without both of them in it. However, they lived and so should they not take that reward of living and do just that, live? Not exist as they would be doing if things go on the way that they were. But actually live.

Will wondered if Hannibal would show him Florence one day, and they can have a second chance to do it right.

The thought almost brought a smile to Will's face, one he never expected. It was as though his mind was being set as the seconds hand on the clock kept ticking forward. There was a problem, and that was the fact that they were in a hospital in Baltimore and Hannibal was under strict guard to make sure he doesn't escape. So it left Will the question of what should he do and how can he get to Hannibal? Would Hannibal accept this new road that was set out before them? Would he want it?

Will wondered if Hannibal would leave Will behind? Ignoring the fact that if there was no Hannibal there is no Will and if he was not with Hannibal there was no Hannibal?

It only took a few minutes after that to make his decision to go for it even though he didn't know Hannibal's place on the whole matter. They could burn that bridge as they go, or shed the blood required to pay for what's been done. His or Hannibal's or both of there's. It all depended on what comes first.

Once the decision was made, the next step was planning. He had to move fast and he had to get the guards away from Hannibal's door. After that, it would be getting Hannibal up and ready to go. Possibly using a wheelchair if it comes down to it. Will didn't know how badly Hannibal was injured beyond the gunshot. He hoped Hannibal would be fine enough to leave, they could handle whatever comes after they get away from here.

Will knows that they would have to lay low somewhere. Heal and tend to who they are coming out of the Atlantic. Who they can be.

Who they were, as far as Will considered, died in the ocean.

* * *

Will focused on the shifts of the nurses and doctors, and when he can he was up and about and using his physical therapy to learn about the shifts and routines of the guards keeping watch over Hannibal. Given from what he's heard, Hannibal has not said a word to them or any of the nurses who entered in fear and came out with the same fear. No doubt fully aware of what Hannibal is capable of. It made Will concerned, what has Hannibal so silent? Was that normal for Hannibal?

Will decided that it was time to move, what he was finding out about Hannibal was not promising and it was best to get him free from here to somewhere he could flourish and heal once again. So long as Will could be with him. If not, then Will would hand himself over to death and he would make sure Hannibal had no choice but to follow or lead. Which ever came first. It was extreme, but nothing less then extreme would fit either of them now.

It was all or nothing.

It was time to officially light the match that will unavoidably make Jack and everyone else his enemy while he draws a line in the sand between them and himself with Hannibal on his side of that line. Or was it he who was on Hannibal's? Not that it matters, they were one in the same.

Will learnt that there was five minutes before shift changes between guards. One of the guards always goes left and there was a room along the way. Will waited here.

The moment the guard crossed the door Will yanked him in and despite the pain slammed his head against the wall. Checking the pulse of the guard, he was alive and Will preferred it that way. He wasn't ready to slaughter everyone in his way yet. That was Hannibal's thing. The memory of Muskrat Farm crossed his mind and almost felt himself shaken by how things were then. He was so lost and so hurt and so very angry. But that was not something he needed to focus on because that was a lifetime ago.

Focusing on his task, Will stole the officer's uniform and gun. Using it as a guise so no one would stop him long enough to get Hannibal. Locating a wheelchair on the way he made his way into the room and almost stuttered at how small Hannibal Lecter looked in the hospital bed, chest bare and midsection covered with a large white bandage. Will plucked the patients information chart and looked through it. Internal bleeding due to the gun shot. Not enough to kill right away, something that was Dolarhydes design. But it also bought Hannibal time. Setting it aside, Will wondered if he himself looked as bruised as Hannibal looked.

"Hannibal." Will called, trying to wake him. Calling to him quietly a few more times before Will found his wrist latched onto, tightly. Hannibal had a mouth guard on, making sure he doesn't bite anyone. Rage filled Hannibal's eyes and the grip tightened. It was clear now that though Hannibal was awake, he didn't see Will. So Will made sure they were forehead to forehead, it perhaps wasn't the smartest idea but he made sure Hannibal had no where else to look but Will as he spoke softly and trying to hurry Hannibal into waking fully. Soothing him and reassuring him that this was Will Graham and not whatever Hannibal is seeing at the moment.

It took three minutes to calm Hannibal and wake him fully.

"Will." Hannibal's voice was quiet and rough from disuse. The mouth guard did nothing to stop his ability to speak, and did even less as Will removed it before undoing the handcuffs that kept Hannibal to the bed. "My Will?" It was clear Hannibal was seeking reassurance, and clearly still under the influence of whatever drugs they had him on. Will did what he could to reassure him while removing the many IV's and the heart monitor, but not before he turned it off. Hoping that would buy them some time before the nurses station would realize something was amiss.

"We have to go." Will pointed out as he assisted an unsteady Hannibal into the wheelchair.

"Yes, quite right." Hannibal agreed and Will noted that he had less then a minute to go all the while hoping that lady luck would be on his side for a change as he made his way out of the room and down another hallway. He would have to steal a car. He would have to kill that person if it came to it.

From there, the world.

Because so long as Will had Hannibal, then there was nowhere they can't go and who knows. Perhaps they can do Florence right next time. Perhaps they might get a dog too and who knows how they can evolve from there. It wouldn't be to much of a jump after all, they were so deeply in each other now as it was. What was one more step or one more way?

"And where would we go, dear Will?" Hannibal asked as they finally exited the hospital.

"Wherever you want to go." Will answered and Hannibal nodded, becoming slightly more aware as they made there way through the parking lot and settling on a vehicle. Low enough for them to climb in and Will thanked whatever luck he had that there was a full tank.

"I was thinking Argentina." Hannibal stated calmly as he did up his seat belt, wincing slightly. Will couldn't help but agree with Hannibal and as they exited the parking lot, Will knows that the moment Jack finds Hannibal missing and the camera's show who has done it. There was no going back. Any alliance or agreement between them would be burnt and turned to nothing more then ash.

And Will, he lit the match happily. Because as it were, it was better to have one person who can see you in all your worst and find you beautiful then have no one to accept that part of him as readily as they would his better side.


End file.
